RAMALLAH, West Bank (Islamweb & News Agencies) - Israel assassinated the leader of a Palestinian Resistance group in a missile strike Monday on the group's offices in the West Bank city of Ramallah.Abu Ali Mustafa, the 64-year-old head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), was assassinated when two missiles fired by helicopter gunships slammed into the offices in an apartment block after he took a phone call, according to PFLP sources. (Read photo captions below)
Mustafa had the highest profile of anyone killed under Israel's policy of tracking and killing Resistance activists since a Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation erupted in September. He became PFLP chief after longtime leader George Habash stepped down in July 2000.
Witnesses said the helicopter gunships had hovered overhead before firing the missiles through the window.
The Israeli assassins said the PFLP has been behind a series of car bomb attacks since the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation erupted last September after peace negotiations deadlocked.
The strike followed two days of tit-for-tat attacks in which seven Israelis and four Palestinians were killed.
Israel had earlier Monday reaffirmed its assassination policy of hitting Palestinian security targets in retaliation for what it calls attacks on Israelis at an emergency meeting convened by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon following the surge in violence.
Israel has so far assassinated about 60 people since the Palestinian intifadha began. One official said Israel had now opened a new phase in the conflict.
``This is crossing all red lines. Sharon is inviting hell to break loose,'' Palestinian cabinet minister Saeb Erekat said.
``I believe Sharon's end game is to widen the cycle of bloodshed and destroy the peace process. This is a new stage in Israel's war against Palestinians. First they destroy the infrastructure and now they kill Palestinian leaders.''
The PFLP, which is a Resistance group in the Palestine Liberation Organization, has opposed peacemaking with Israel under the terms of the Oslo accords. It drew attention to the Palestinian struggle with a series of plane hijackings in the late 1960's and 1970's.
PHOTO CAPTION:
A Palestinian boy chants anti-Israeli slogans and holds a picture of Abu Ali Mustafa, the 64-year-old head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), during a protest in the Nussyrat refugee camp in the Gaza strip, August 27, 2001. Mustafa was killed the day before in an Israeli missile strike on PFLP's offices in the West Bank city of Ramallah. (Ahmed Jadallah/Reuters)